V.—CATALOGUE OF POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT SECTION, INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876.

CENTENNIAL BRANCH POST-OFFICE, PHILADELPHIA, PA.

A.-STAFF AND FINANCE DIVISION.

B.-MONEY ORDER DIVISION.

C.-REGISTRY DIVISION.

D.-CITY DELIVERY DIVISION.

E.-MAILING AND DISTRIBUTION DIVISION.

F.-MISCELLANEOUS DIVISION.

DIVISION I.-RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE.

a. Railway post-office car, "Governor Dix," from the "fast mail line" of the New York Central, Michigan Southern and Lake Shore Railroads.

b. Railway post-office car, from the "limited mail line" of the Fenn sylvania, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Saint Louis, Vandalia, Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroads.

c. Model railway post-office car, on scale of one inch to the foot, upon 20 feet of track, exhibiting a working model of L. F. Ward's mail-pouch catcher.

DIVISION II.-STAMPS, STAMPED AND OTHER ENVELOPES, AND POSTAL CARDS.

a. Postage stamps.-Framed specimens of each of the styles of postagestamps heretofore issued by the Post-Office Department, 1847 to 1876, inclusive.

b. Stamped envelopes, first series.-Framed specimens of each of the styles of stamped envelopes of the first series issued by the Post-Office Department, 1853 to 1870. George F. Nesbitt, contractor.

c. Stamped envelopes, second series.-Framed specimens of each of the styles of stamped envelopes of the second series issued by the PostOffice Department, 1870 to 1874. George H. Reay, contractor.

d. Stamped envelopes, third series.-Framed specimens of each of the styles of stamped envelopes of the third series issued by the Post-Office Department, 1874 to 1876. Plympton Envelope Company, contractor. e. Official envelopes.-Framed specimens of each of the styles of official envelopes in use by the Post-Office Department.

f. Postal cards, first series.-Framed specimens of the first series of postal cards, used prior to 1875.

g. Postal cards, second series -Framed specimens of the second series of postal-cards, 1875 to 1876.

h. Envelope machine for gumming, embossing, printing, and folding United States stamped envelopes. Furnished for exhibition by the Plympton Envelope Company.

i. Baxter steam engine (two horse-power), used in operating the envelope machine.

DIVISION III.-POSTAL TOPOGRAPHY.

A series of maps and atlases, illustrative of the postal service of the United States, and exhibiting the location of the 36,383 post-offices and 9,003 post-routes in operation therein, June 30, 1876, viz:

a. Map of the United States and Territories, scale 16 miles to the inch, illustrating the 72,348 miles of railway mail service of the United States Post-Office Department.

b. Two atlases of post-route maps (in sheets).

c. Map of the post-offices and post-routes in the State of Maine, showing the location of the 877 post-offices in that State, with their routes of supply. Scale, 8 miles to the inch.

d. Map of the post-offices and post-routes in the New England States (exclusive of Maine), showing the location of the 2,193 post-offices in those States, with their routes of supply. Scale, 6 miles to the inch.

e. Map of the post-offices and post-routes in the State of New York, showing the location of the 2,835 post-offices in that State, with their routes of supply. Scale, 6 miles to the inch.

f. Map of the post-offices and post-routes in the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, and in the District of Columbia, showing the location of the 4,537 post-offices in those States, with their routes of supply. Scale, 6 miles to the inch.

g. Map of the post-offices and post-routes in the States of Ohio and Indiana, showing the location of the 3,712 post offices in those States, with their routes of supply. Scale, 8 miles to the inch.

h. Map of the post-offices and post-routes in the States of Michigan and Wisconsin, showing the location of the 2,469 post-offices in those States, with their routes of supply. Scale, 10 miles to the inch.

i. Map of the post-offices and post routes in the State of Minnesota, showing the location of the 832 post-offices in that State, with their routes of supply. Scale, 10 miles to the inch.

k. Map of the post offices and post-routes in the States of Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, showing the location of the 4,767 post-offices and post routes in those States, with their routes of supply. Scale, 10 miles to the inch.

7. Map of the post-offices and post-routes in the States of Kansas and Nebraska, showing the location of the 1,688 post-offices in those States, with their routes of supply. Scale, 10 miles to the inch.

m. Map of the post-offices and post routes in the Territory of Colorado, showing the location of the 212 post-offices in that Territory, with their routes of supply. Scale, 15 miles to the inch.

n. Map of the post-offices and post-routes in the States of California and Nevada, showing the location of the 855 post-offices and post-routes in those States, with their routes of supply. Scale, 10 miles to the inch. o. Map of the post-offices and post-routes in the States of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, showing the location of the 2,936 post-offices in those States, with their routes of supply. Scale, 8 miles to the inch.

p. Map of the post-offices and post-routes in the States of North Caro lina and South Carolina, showing the location of the 1,630 post-offices in those States, with their routes of supply. Scale, 8 miles to the inch. q. Map of the post-offices and post-routes in the State of Florida, showing the location of the 222 post-offices in that State, with their routes of supply. Scale, 16 miles to the inch.

r. Map of the post-offices and post-routes in the States of Alabama and Mississippi, showing the location of the 1,372 post offices in those States, with their routes of supply. Scale, 10 miles to the inch.

s. Map of the post-offices and post-routes in the States of Louisiana and Texas, showing the location of the 1,253 post-offices in those States, with their routes of supply. Scale, 16 miles to the inch.

NOTE.-Maps of a few of the States and Territories, which exist as yet only in a manuscript form in use for the Post-Office Department were not exhibited.

DIVISION IV.-MAIL EQUIPMENTS.

a. Mail locks.-Framed specimens of each style of mail lock in use by the Post-Office Department, from 1800 to 1876, inclusive. One frame, eighteen specimens.

b. Mail pouches and sacks.-Glass case, containing a specimen of each style of canvas mail-bag and of leather pouch in present use by the Post-Office Department; also specimens of several kinds of materials used in the manufacture of such bags and pouches. Case and specimens furnished by John Boyle, contractor, Nos. 203 and 205, Fulton street, New York, N. Y.

c. Mail pouches and bags.-Eight specimens of leather mail pouches furnished for exhibition by the contractors, Polydore S. Thompson, No. 338 Broadway, New York, N. Y., and John C. Fetterman, Albany, N. Y.

DIVISION V.-MAIL COLLECTIONS AND DELIVERY.

a. Street letter-boxes.-One specimen each, two styles street or lamppost letter collection boxes.

b. Post-office lock-boxes-One specimen each, two styles post-office lock-boxes for letter delivery.

c. Newspaper lock-boxes.-One specimen each, two styles post-office lock-boxes for newspaper delivery.

These boxes were furnished for exhibition by the Johnson RotaryLock Company of New York through their secretary and treasurer, Mr. J. L. Chambers.

d. Mail pouch for use of "letter-carriers" in the collection and delivery of mail.

e. Safety chain for use of "letter-carriers" in attaching key to belt.

DIVISION VI.-MARKING, RATING, AND CANCELING.

a. Letter and mailing scales.—One specimen each, all styles of scales used by the Post-Office Department for weighing letters, newspapers, miscellaneous mailable matter, and mails in bulk. These exhibits were

furnished by the "Fairbanks Scale Company," contractor.

b. Marking, rating, and canceling stamps.-Framed specimens one each, of all styles of marking, rating, and canceling stamps used by the PostOffice Department. One frame.

DIVISION VII.-MISCELLANEOUS.

a. Postmaster-General Franklin's ledger.-Glass case containing the ledger in which Benjamin Franklin, first Postmaster-General of the United States, kept the accounts of the Post-Office Department in the year 1776, Furnished for exhibition by the Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Department.

b. Glass case containing the Diary of Hugh Finley, surveyor (or special agent) of the Post-Office Department of the British-American Colonies, written in 1773. This diary contains a detailed account of a survey of the post-offices and post-roads between Casco Bay, Maine, and Savannah, Ga., begun September 13, 1773, and ended June 26, 1774.

c. Post-Office blanks.--Bound volume, containing one specimen each, of all the varieties of blanks and blank forms in use by the United States Post-Office Department in 1876.

d. Postal laws and regulations, postal conventions, distances, and documents of the United States Post-Office Department. One volume bound.

e. American Star Papers, relating to postal affairs from 1789 to 1832, inclusive, and a "treaty concerning a general postal union" made in 1874. One volume bound.

f. Advertisements of October, 1875, for carrying the mails of the United States from July 1, 1876, to June 30, 1877, inclusive, in the following States, viz: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey; and from July 1, 1876, to June 30, 1880, inclusive, in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio. One volume bound.

Vol. I,

g. United States Official Post-Office Guide.-Two volumes. October, 1874, to July, 1875; Vol. II, October, 1875, to January, 1876.

h. Reports of the Postmasters-General of the United States. Five volumes. Vol. I, 1833 to 1850, inclusive; Vol. II, 1851 to 1858, inclusive; Vol. III, 1859 to 1864, inclusive; Vol. IV, 1865 to 1870, inclusive; Vol. V, 1871 to 1875, inclusive.

i. Post days at Boston for the year 1795.-Schedule of arrivals and departures of mails at the post-office at Boston, Mass., in the year 1795. Donated by General William L. Burt, late postmaster at Boston, Mass. k. Engraved and photographed likenesses of the Postmasters-General of the United States. From the Post-Office Department, at Washington, D. C.

APPENDIX.

VI.—THE CENTENNIAL BRANCH POST-OFFice, philadeLPHIA, PA. This post-office was fully opened for business March 10, 1876, by order of the Postmaster-General dated February 14, 1876, and was closed November 30 of the same year. It was established for the accommodation of the officers, attendants, and visitors at the United States International Centennial Exhibition of 1876, and was, moreover, designed as a "model post-office," complete in all its appointments, to exhibit in detail the appliances, arrangements, and methods employed for the transaction of post-office business in the United States.

In the allotment of space for this purpose about one-half of the southern transept of the United States' Government Building was used, covering about 2,100 square feet. The fittings were in walnut, richly panneled with appropriate carvings, emblematic of postal matters, and were surrounded by highly embellished moldings. Ten letter-carriers and seven clerks were employed, and five wagons, specially constructed for the purpose, with drivers in uniform, were used in making an hourly exchange of mails between this branch office and the main post-office of the city. Fifty ornamental pedestal letter-boxes were located throughout the buildings and grounds, bearing a notification in seven languages that hourly collections would be made from them by carriers.

The locks used upon these boxes were nickel-plated, of a special design and extra finish, bearing upon their face an embossed representation of the "old bell" of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pa., with the words and figures, "Liberty Bell-1776–1876-Centennial." They were furnished by Messrs. Smith & Egge, of Bridgeport, Conn., the contractors.

Envelopes with an embossed stamp of an entirely new design, indicating the progress made in postal facilities in this country during the last century, were manufactured and sold in the Government building. Of these stamped envelopes 689,000 were retailed at the branch office, and the total value of postage-stamps, &c., sold amounted to $49,328.60.